It’s Tuesday, August 12. Danielle, here.
☀️ We’re almost done with this triple-digit run: high of 102 today, but we should hit the 90s by Thursday.
🏋🏽 The first citywide senior activity center is coming: Fresno leaders broke ground on a new senior center at Blackstone and Ashlan Avenues this morning.
Listen up: Look, I know you didn’t sign up for this newsletter to get breaking news on Taylor Swift, but I’ll give it to you anyway: her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” is coming this October, she announced last night.
1. Southeast community leaders criticize proposed park name
What’s in a name? For some southeast community leaders, the answer is a lot, reports Pablo Orihuela for Fresnoland.
The new 49-acre park in southeast Fresno may officially be christened the “Southeast Fresno Sports Complex” following this Thursday’s Fresno City Council meeting.
The name is simple enough. For some southeast Fresno residents, it’s a little too simple.
The Southeast Fresno Community Economic Development Association (SEFCEDA) said they believe the new park should be named, instead, after community leader Jose Leon Barraza. SEFCEDA said Barraza, their ex-CEO, is representative of the southeast Fresno community, and played a critical role in getting the park built in the first place.
The city has released two polls asking residents for feedback, but the new proposed name the city council will soon vote on wasn’t included in either poll. Southeast Councilmember Brandon Vang has not responded to a request for comment.
SEFCEDA board chair Pedro Navarro Cruz: “It takes a lot of sacrifice … a lot of literal blood, sweat and tears to have community investments like this take place,” he said. “Our story is being diluted.”
2. Arambula one of legislature’s quietest
The nerds at CalMatters’ Digital Democracy project (and I mean this in the most positive way possible, as a fellow nerd) crunched the data, and found eight state lawmakers speak far less than a typical legislator, according to a story co-reported by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad and CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.
One of those just so happens to be Democratic Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who represents Fresno. He spoke a total of 55 minutes so far this year.
Speaking fewer words doesn’t necessarily equate to a less productive legislator.
California Sen. Megan Dahle, a Republican from Redding, was the third-quietest legislator, according to the analysis, but had the highest bill success rate amongst Republicans, the minority party.
Thad Kousser, UC San Diego political science professor: “That kid who always has his hands up in class may not always be the one everyone listens to.”
3. How to improve a neighborhood, according to this Tower District activist
Kiel Lopez-Schmidt has been working to improve the South Tower neighborhood, where he grew up, since he moved back after graduating from UC Berkeley over two decades ago.
He’s a known presence at City Hall over the years.
On this week’s Fresnolandia podcast, he recounted how his approach to community organizing has changed, how he helped secure a new park for the neighborhood, and why his organization — the South Tower Community Land Trust — is tackling affordable homeownership in the Tower District.
Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Julianna Morano.
